LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Let’s start at the starting place. Rep. Ron Paul has no chance whatsoever of securing the Republican nomination, nor of being elected president under any imaginable circumstances. Ain’t gonna happen. Even Newt Gingrich has basically said he’d vote for President Obama over Paul. Given that Newt would probably back Vladimir Putin over Obama — robust foreign policy, after all — that’s definitely saying something.

So don’t tell me about Paul’s political courage. It’s easy to be a fearless iconoclast when nothing’s at stake. That said, it was heartening to hear the Texas congressman, during a Fox News-sponsored Iowa debate of all places, stress the similarities between the current “bomb Iran” chorus and the 2003 propaganda campaign that led the U.S. to invade Iraq. Paul dismissed as “absurd” Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann’s assertions that Iranian government “theology” would lead it to start a nuclear war.

“To declare war on 1.2 billion Muslims and say all Muslims are the same, this is dangerous talk,” Paul added. “Yeah, there are some radicals. But they don’t come here to kill us because we’re free and prosperous. Do they go to Switzerland and Sweden? I mean, that’s absurd. ... The CIA has explained it to us. They said they come here and want to do us harm because we’re bombing them.”

Iran and al-Qaida are bitter enemies. Otherwise, Paul’s on target. He also pointed out that the U.S. and Iran haven’t been at war since 1979, as Santorum asserted, but since 1953, when a CIA-sponsored coup overthrew Iran’s elected government and installed the corrupt, dictatorial Shah. For all the current regime’s brutality, that historical grievance is why attacking Iran would only strengthen the ayatollahs.

It’s precisely such interludes that have led luminaries like Bachmann, Rush Limbaugh and the New Hampshire Union-Leader to declare Paul a dangerous heretic. A bit more surprising is his fan base on the left. “I have big problems w/Ron Paul on many issues,” tweeted The Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel. “But on ending preemptive wars and on challenging bipartisan elite consensus on FP, good he’s in.”

Salon’s Glenn Greenwald went further. Paul’s nomination“would mean that it is the Republican candidate — not the Democrat — who would be the anti-war, pro-due-process, pro-transparency, anti-Fed, anti-Wall-Street-bailout, anti-Drug-War advocate (which is why some neocons are expressly arguing they’d vote for Obama over Paul). Is it really hard to see why Democrats hate his candidacy and anyone who touts it?

Oh, please. Inasmuch as Paul’s nomination would also be preceded by signs, portents, graveyards yielding up their dead, and lions whelping in the streets, hating him would be rather a waste of energy.

Paul was warning the citizens of Sioux Center, Iowa, that land use regulations could lead to dictatorship.

“I’m fearful,” he said “because some people would like us to go all the way to the U.N. and have the U.N. controlling our lands, too.”

Exactly who these “some people” might be, Paul didn’t say. Of course some people think space aliens monitor their thoughts through fillings in their teeth. Some people even believe that the U.S. government has installed chemical tracking agents in $100 bills.

A 1993 promotional letter for the militia-friendly “Ron Paul Newsletter,” published the last time a Democratic president provoked apocalyptic fears among Moron-Americans, helpfully explained: “The totalitarian bills were tinted pink and blue and brown, and blighted with holograms, diffraction gratings, metal and plastic threads, and chemical alarms. It was a portable inquisition, a paper ‘third degree,’ to allow the feds to keep track of American cash, and American citizens.”

Send that tainted cash straight to Ron Paul. He’d know what to do with it. Today, of course, the candidate says he neither wrote nor read any of the crackpot ravings in the “Ron Paul Newsletter.” Not the stuff about how Martin Luther King was a pedophile, how Israeli agents bombed the World Trade Center, about the coming American race-war, or the “federal-homosexual cover-up on AIDS,” none of it.

Even “The Original Famous Ron Paul Survival Kit,” an official World War II U.S. Army ammo holder filled “with highly liquid, small-denomination silver and gold coins for hand-to-hand use” was supposedly news to Ron Paul.

Look, this guy’s no more a Libertarian than I’m a Rastafarian. Even when he’s right, as on bombing Iran, he’s wrong. (Hint: It’s about the Jews.) What he’s got against the federal government is the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Anyway, call me old-fashioned, but sanity matters.

Gene Lyons is a National Magazine Award winner and co-author of “The Hunting of the President” (St. Martin’s Press, 2000).

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While Paul's domestic policies are about 90% spot on,his foriegn issues are about 97% off. What both Gene and Ron forget when they say Al quieda and Iran are enemies (even though it has been proven that Iran trains,finances ,and furnishes weapons to them) is that they are both groups of Muslims that will hash out their differences after they eradicate Israel and western civilization.
We are their common enemy,and eliminating anything non Muslim is the number one priority.

I suggest people read pg 35-38 of the Iranian constitution,and how it specifies part of the duty of the nation is to spread Islam and calls specifically for the ending of the Jewish state. Combine that with the group of 12ers who believe their entire purpose in life is to help the Mahdi out of the well to help initiate a worldwide caliphate-you have a group of people that not only celevrate dying for their cause(and killing you on the process) but actuallylook forward to it.

What people such as Ron and Gene mess up on in comparing the Russians and the Cold War on and Iran is that the Russians- while not minding how many people died-especially non communist-wanted the majority of themselves to live ,and the conquered land to be inhabitable- Ahminijhad and the 12ers have no such issue, they would prefer land not be livable,that way they have less area to come hunt you down to kill ypu,and they don't care of they wipe out.their entire nation in the process.

We need to wake up and realize these people do not value their own lives,much less yours.

BTW -at least 18 different occassions Ahminijahd has said. That when Iran gets a nuke(not if) he will use it.

“Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really." ~Agnes Sligh Turnbull “Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people’s money.” -Margaret Thatcher

They do go to Switzerland and Sweden, and France and the UK and the rest of Europe's appeasers. They're creating their own Islamic regimes from within so why should they attack Europe? Until ypu offend the religion of perpetual rage that is. I guess you and Ron forgot the cartoonist episode and that van Gogh assassination. Oh, and the riots in France and bombings in London.

All is well as long as you leave them to their Sharia and don't insult Allah. America does not bow to their will, the western society we embrace is an affront to that same Allah and the big one - we are a friend to Israel. That is why they hate America. You and Ron are both naive, "moron-Americans" as you put it, on that front.

It does not have an official statement regarding the destruction of Iran. You are lying or misinformed. Ahmadenijad has made that statement on more than one occasion. You might note that there is a sizable group of people in Iran who are protesting against his regime. It's not that I belive Iran is peaceful etc. But you have made a blatant mistatement of fact.

Muslims are already here. They say they are here not to harm America, BS. Muslims are here to establish Sharia Law and nothing else. We already have them in Congress and Obama and his administration. Anyone that believes otherwise has their head in the sand. They will do it here in American just like they have done in other countries, from within or will do it with threats and if necessary kill. They believe in the Koran and if you don't believe the way they believe you are an infidel and are to be killed. Enough said.

5.continuous leadership (imamah) and perpetual guidance, and its fundamental role in ensuring the uninterrupted process of the revolution of Islam;
6.the exalted dignity and value of man, and his freedom coupled with responsibility before God; in which equity, justice, political, economic, social, and cultural independence, and national solidarity are secured by recourse to:

1.continuous ijtihad of the fuqaha' possessing necessary qualifications, exercised on the basis off the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Ma'sumun, upon all of whom be peace

This article explains the leaders of Ummah must choose a leader in accordance with Article 107 for this office. This is stated to be related to the disappearance of the Twelfth Imam whom it asks God to return.
_____________________________________

Okay, how do you get /allah to return the 12th imam????????

Article 11
and it must constantly strive to bring about the political, economic, and cultural unity of the Islamic world.
______________________________

Many doctors and health care providers? I can think of a few.....and those were immediately condemned by the Christian community, not revered as jerks as in the jihadists.
Bashings of homosexuals. Not in the name of Christ but in the name sick childish fun, and this Christian nation prosecuted them, not rewarded them as with Islam.

Get your facts straight man, you are making yourself look really ignorant.

kuntry? you quoted from the Iranian constitution but you weren't able to find a reference that says that Iran is dedicated to the destruction of Israel. It isn't in there. It does say that the other authorized religions are Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Judaism. Although, if I was Jewish, I wouldn't live in Iran.

9:29] You shall fight back against those who do not believe in GOD, nor in the Last Day, nor do they prohibit what GOD and His messenger have prohibited, nor do they abide by the religion of truth among those who received the scripture, until they pay the due tax, willingly or unwillingly.

Blasphemies

[9:30] The Jews said, "Ezra is the son of GOD," while the Christians said, "Jesus is the son of GOD!" These are blasphemies uttered by their mouths. They thus match the blasphemies of those who have disbelieved in the past. GOD condemns them. They have surely deviated.

Upholding the Teachings of Religious Leaders Instead of God's Teachings

[9:31] They have set up their religious leaders and scholars as lords,* instead of GOD. Others deified the Messiah, son of Mary. They were all commanded to worship only one god. There is no god except He. Be He glorified, high above having any partners

I stand corrected it does not say Israel, It says Jews.

When you add these together with 9:71-79 (most notably 75) you discover that the call is for basically the destruction of anyone that is not Muslim, and Holds a special contempt for Jews and Christians (9:30)

You are again strecthing reality. The CONSTITUTION OF IRAN does not say anything directly about the destruction of JEWS. You continued insistence on lying betrays a total lack of ability engage in truthful discourse.

I beleive that the Iran is hostile to Israel. Clearly, the current government of Iran has designs against Israel. It is a bald faced lie to state that the written plan of government of Iran states that official government policy is the destruction of Israel.

Hey Lyon's, why is Obumbo still sending troops to Afgan since OBL is suppose to be dead ? Is it because he wants more of our soldiers offered up for target practice to his Muslim buddies or is it because there are no jobs for them or those that are currently in Afgan. You liberals have a neat way of running from the truth but after the election in November you can go hang out at the courthouse in Littlerock and play dominos with the rest of the crowd that think on the same mindless world that you live on. You might even go over and be a door greeter at the Clinton Library and Massage Parlor.